Three months’ worth of rain over the course of one day has flooded the Canadian province of Nova Scotia since Friday night, inundating streets, forcing evacuations and leaving at least four people missing – including two children.

A provincewide state of emergency has been declared, including for the Halifax regional municipality as well as nearby East Hants, West Hants, Lunenburg and Queens.

“We have had biblical proportions of rain over the night and into the day,” Halifax Mayor Mike Savage said Saturday.

The two missing children were passengers in a vehicle that became submerged under water in West Hants, Premier Tim Houston said in a press conference Saturday. Three others who were in the car with them were able to escape, he said.

In a separate incident, a young person and a man were also reported missing in the West Hants area after their vehicle was submerged, while two other passengers traveling in the same vehicle were rescued, Houston said.

Officials have not released the names or ages of the four as the search for them continues.

“I cannot stop thinking about these families and these four individuals,” Houston said. “I want them to know that everything that can be done is being done. I know the entire province joins me in praying for their safe return.”

Houston warned that conditions in the area are still dangerous and asked community members to pause on joining the search for the missing people.

Northern and eastern Nova Scotia are expected to see more rain Saturday night, while the forecast predicts rain in the central, western and southern areas will ease, officials said.

An estimated 250 millimeters of rain battered the province in one day, Houston said.

“We got three months’ worth of rain in less than 24 hours,” he said. “It came fast and it came furious.”

Much of central Nova Scotia has seen severe flooding that deluged roads, forced water rescues and left “significant” property damage Saturday, Houston said. The storms have also compromised bridges and damaged highways.

The state of emergency declaration is meant to limit travel in heavily impacted areas, allow for the deployment of assets and facilitate the restoration of affected infrastructure, officials said.

“We have a scary situation here in the province. We had significant rainfall overnight causing extensive flooding damage,” said Houston. “The state of emergency allows us to respond quickly when there are calls for more resources.”

About 750 people were ordered to flee the Halifax area overnight, while more than 400 homes were evacuated in Lunenburg, authorities said Saturday.

In East Hants, a bridge collapse stranded residents, and there were “about several hundred people there that are sheltering on site and they’re self-sufficient,” said Kelly Ash, East Hants emergency management coordinator.

As local and federal agencies continue to use resources to repair damaged bridges, highways and properties, officials say it will take days for any improvements before the water level settles down.

“Once again, our community is facing the awful force and unpredictability, nature and a changing climate,” Mayor Savage said.

“This has been an extraordinary event and I know that it follows on the heels of wildfires of not very long ago and even Hurricane Fiona of last fall.” the mayor added.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau offered support to Nova Scotia residents in a post on Twitter Saturday afternoon, saying that with air and marine assistance “we’re providing resources to help with evacuations – and we stand ready to provide any additional federal resources needed. Please stay safe, everyone.”

Trudeau also spoke with Houston Saturday and emphasized federal and local collaboration on search and rescue efforts, Trudeau’s office said in a news release.

“The Prime Minister reiterated the Government of Canada’s commitment to supporting Nova Scotians in the days and weeks ahead to respond to the flooding,” the release said. “He also acknowledged the strength of Nova Scotians, who are coming together in hard times and showing up for each other.”

Football has consumed much of Cedella Marley’s life. But perhaps that should not come as a surprise.

As the daughter of global reggae icon Bob Marley, who was a renowned lover of the beautiful game, Cedella was never far from a soccer ball growing up. Had he not been a musician, Cedella recalls her father telling her, he would have wanted to be a soccer player.

“Sometimes, it would be the photographers who were out there, you know; sometimes, it would be the journalists and it would be the band against the journalists.

“I watched him growing up, I also watch my brothers, Ziggy and Steve. They played football growing up, too, and it was just always something that I loved. I love to kick a ball and was super competitive when my brothers would challenge me.”

Recalling advice given to her by Pelé, Cadella smiles broadly as she repeats the words the Brazilian all-time great told her: “The ball is round and always take the penalty.”

“So everything to me was a penalty,” Marley laughs. “I’d be like: ‘I’m just going for the goal,’ and that love is just something that is just in my DNA. I wouldn’t change it for the world.”

‘Wait, Jamaica has a women’s football team?’

Though she has loved soccer for as long as she can remember, for many years, Marley’s involvement in the game didn’t extend beyond kickabouts with her father and brothers.

But that all changed in 2014 when one day her son came home from school and handed her a flier, saying that his soccer coach had asked him to deliver it to her.

“I’m reading it … I’m like: ‘Wait, Jamaica has a women’s football team? Where did this come from?” she says.

Six years earlier, in 2008, underfunding had led to the Jamaican Football Federation (JFF) disbanding the women’s national team program. The flier Marley’s son brought home was a fundraising request from the JFF to help restart the program. Marley got to work almost immediately, calling the federation the following morning to ask what it needed.

“The needs were many,” Marley says, repeating the sentence as if to emphasize how dire the situation was.

From travel and nutrition to accommodation and training camps, every area of the national team’s setup was in need of funding.

An accomplished musician and multiple Grammy award-winning artist with the band Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers, Marley put her considerable musical talents to work.

“My family came together with me, [brothers] Damien and Steve and I, we recorded a song called ‘Strike Hard’ to raise funds,” she says.

Through a combination of the royalties earned from ‘Strike Hard,’ a GoFundMe page and by becoming an ambassador and sponsor of the women’s national team through the Bob Marley Foundation, Marley says they raised $300,000 in the first year.

The women’s team disbanded again in 2016, but Marley never wavered in her commitment to the program. In 2019, her efforts – and the work of countless others who were equally as dedicated to the cause – culminated in the women’s national team becoming the first Caribbean country to qualify for a Women’s World Cup.

Marley’s work has helped not only improve standards and conditions for players, but also helped shift the country’s attitude towards the women’s national team.

“These girls have been told for a long time that women in sports, especially football in Jamaica, it really wasn’t that important,” Marley says. “Like, it doesn’t matter. ‘You guys don’t make money. You don’t bring in the crowds. You don’t do this, you don’t do that.’

“Nobody wants to give us brand deals because [it’s] the female team and so it’s funny now to see how all of that has changed drastically, not just for our women, but around the world … and that makes me excited.”

‘Warrior mode’

Marley is speaking from Jamaica’s pre-World Cup training camp in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, organized by Ajax and Adidas. The players have had their every need catered for with the “amazing” facilities on offer, she says.

Boasting first-class training pitches, a gym, a swimming pool and a basketball court, the Friendship Sports Centre has “everything” the Jamaican players need to best prepare for the World Cup, Marley says.

“I remember back in the day when it just used to be like a dark room, you know, in a basement or something,” Marley recalls with a dry laugh.

“So it’s a big difference to see how they’re training now.”

Eleven of the players that went to the last World Cup are also included in Jamaica’s squad for Australia and New Zealand and that added experience means expectations are higher this time around.

At France 2019, Jamaica was drawn into a tough group featuring Italy, Australia and Brazil. The ‘Reggae Girlz’ lost all three matches but created more history by scoring the country’s first goal at a Women’s World Cup when Havana Solaun netted in the 4-1 defeat to Australia.

This year’s squad boasts a number of players plying their trade at the highest level around the world, headlined by Manchester City striker Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw, who scored an impressive 20 goals – to go with seven assists – during last season’s Women’s Super League campaign.

That Jamaica has so many talented players to call upon is thanks in part to former head coach Hue Menzies, who had the foresight to send the country’s brightest prospects to schools in the United States when the country’s women’s league was disbanded in 2015 and the national team lay dormant.

The individual and collective growth within the squad over the past four years has given Jamaica renewed confidence that it can improve on the performances from France 2019.

“We want to go out there and we want to win,” Marley says assuredly, with Jamaica this time being drawn against Brazil, France and Panama. Qualifying to the knockouts will be difficult, but more history, this time a first Women’s World Cup win, is a real possibility.

“It’s just beautiful to watch the game and our girls. They’re hyper focused, that’s one thing I can tell you and they’re going in there in warrior mode.”

However, preparation for the tournament hasn’t all been plain sailing.

Last month, many of the first-team squad wrote an open letter to the JFF expressing their “utmost disappointment” in what they described as “subpar” conditions during their World Cup preparations.

The letter also alleges the JFF has failed to deliver on “contractually agreed upon compensation.”

And JFF president Michael Ricketts said last month that the federation wanted to “make sure we provide as much as we can for the girls,” Reuters reported.

“People want to know what the progress has been from the last World Cup and I’m like: ‘Well, here we are doing it again,’” Asher says, referencing the previous issues the team has faced.

The Reggae Girlz now have a contractual agreement with their national federation, according to Asher, but still had to release a public statement to ensure that they received the best possible support for a World Cup.

Marley says she hasn’t been in contact with the federation since the players’ open later, instead choosing to focus solely on how she can directly help the women’s team. Even when she first became involved with the squad in 2014, Marley says she had little contact with the JFF.

“I just really talked to the girls to find out what their needs were because I can’t be effective knowing what their [the JFF] problem is,” she says. “I’d rather know what the needs are for the female team.

“I don’t really concern myself with matters that don’t concern me. You know, the girls have spoken; hopefully, the federation has listened.

“But what I do is that I have direct conversations with the girls to see how I can assist and I take it from there because I don’t think the Jamaican federation is different from any other federation,” Marley adds, mentioning the ongoing dispute between England’s Lionesses and their FA over bonus payments.

‘Football is Freedom’

Even with all she has achieved alongside the women’s national team, perhaps Marley’s greatest accomplishment in soccer is the founding of her ‘Football is Freedom’ initiative.

The name is taken from one of her father’s famous quotes, and in October 2021, the initiative launched with a week-long training camp in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, providing the women’s national teams of Jamaica and Costa Rica with training facilities before they faced off in a friendly.

Since then, the initiative has expanded. In February of last year – on what would have been her father’s 77th birthday – Football is Freedom hosted its first girls’ soccer clinic in Jamaica, focusing on developing young women both as players and people.

Marley says her initiative aims to help the girls develop life skills, providing them with mentorship and opportunities for higher education.

“I’ve taken everything that I’ve learned over the last nine years and applied it to building what I hope is a better future, not only for my country, but Football is Freedom is an initiative that hopefully the world will adopt,” Marley says.

“We’re starting from the grassroots level in Jamaica right now … and we’re giving every girl a chance to become a game changer, not just on the pitch, but in their homes, in their communities and in life in general.”

Marley admits she never really understood her father’s quote when was younger, but says it now resonates profoundly with her following the journey she has been on over the last nine years.

“It’s like I’m living it,” she says.

Soccer can be a way out for girls living in “rough communities” in Jamaica, Marley says, with some players going on to earn scholarships and the success of Football is Freedom has seen the initiative welcome Adidas and Common Goal as partners.

She has seen first-hand how gifted some of the girls are and says this natural talent for soccer “can change their lives.” All they need, she says, is to be given “proper structure.”

“I’m feeling lucky so far, but I know it’s not easy to do what I’m trying to do,” Marley says. “It’s going to take a whole bunch of people that believe in the same thing to actually make a difference.

“So I’m reaching out to those believers who believe in some small way they can bring about change in people’s mindsets because these girls deserve the opportunity.

“Every single opportunity that we can give them.”

LeBron James and Serena Williams have become accustomed to tens of thousands of fans screaming their names whenever they enter a sporting arena.

But in a complete role reversal, James and Williams became the adoring fans witnessing sporting greatness on Friday.

As Lionel Messi made his debut for his new team, Inter Miami, the basketball and tennis icons were in the stands to witness the occasion, alongside Kim Kardashian, Inter Miami co-owner David Beckham and his wife Victoria Beckham in the sold-out DRV PNK Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

“I’m happy to be here with Victoria and David and everyone, it’s going to be such a fun game,” Kardashian told broadcaster Apple TV before the match started.

Watching with her “soccer-obsessed” son Saint, Kardashian was asked who her son’s favorite player is, and the answer was not a surprise. “Absolutely Messi. He’s so excited to see Messi,” Kardashian responded.

Before the game, James was also seen hugging Messi in a crossover of two players considered by many to be the greatest of all time (GOAT) in their respective sports.

“Welcome brother!!! Always good to see and be in the presence of GREATNESS!!! #ComingToAmerica,” James wrote in a picture shared to his Instagram of him embracing the Argentine.

Messi was substituted on in the 54th minute, along with fellow former FC Barcelona star, Sergio Busquets. With the game finely poised at 1-1, like something out of a movie script, Messi stepped up to take a freekick in the 94th minute.

The seven-time Ballon d’Or winner beautifully curled the ball beyond the Cruz Azul goalkeeper and into the top corner to cap off a debut to remember.

Beckham appeared to be close to tears following the winner, while Williams was videoed passionately cheering as the 36-year-old’s free-kick hit the net.

“As soon I saw the free kick given, I thought, ‘this is the way it’s meant to win’, especially when you have players like Leo and Sergio (Busquets) on the pitch,” Inter Miami co-owner David Beckham told the Apple TV broadcast after the game.

“This is such a special night for us, for our family, for everyone that’s in this stadium, for you guys. It is such a moment for this country, It’s such a moment for this league and it’s a very proud moment for us.”

Footage of the free-kick shared to social media led to glowing reviews from a host of American sporting stars, led by James.

“INCREDIBLE!!!!” tweeted James, adding a goat emoji, also used in a response from Kansas City Chiefs quarterback and two-time Super Bowl champion Patrick Mahomes, who tweeted: “Wild man!”

Brian Harman will enjoy the comfort of a five-shot lead when he tees off for the final round of the Open Championship, as the American took a step closer to his first major crown with another strong performance at Royal Liverpool on Saturday.

The 36-year-old looked in danger of sliding as he bogeyed two of the first four holes, but the Georgia-born golfer recovered admirably, closing with a nerveless par-saving putt to card two-under 69 and preserve the cushion he had begun the day with.

A two-time winner on the PGA Tour, a runner-up finish at the 2017 US Open marks the closest Harman – a diminutive presence at five feet seven inches – has come to winning one of men’s golf’s four flagship tournaments.

In the last 40 years, only 11 golfers have previously carried a lead of five strokes or more into the final 18 holes of a major championship, according to the PGA Tour.

Nine of them converted their advantages into wins, and Harman will be desperate to avoid joining the two who infamously didn’t: Greg Norman at the 1996 Masters, and Jean Van de Velde at the 1999 Open Championship.

“You’d be foolish not to envision [winning], I’ve thought about winning majors for my whole entire life,” Harman told reporters.

“It’s the whole reason I work as hard as I do, why I practice as much as I do and why I sacrifice as much as I do.”

Harman was paired with England’s Tommy Fleetwood who, having begun the day five shots behind the American in second, shot a second straight even-par 71 to fall to tied-fourth.

Merseyside-born and similarly chasing a long-awaited first major, Fleetwood has received vociferous crowd support all week – but home backing occasionally spilled over into rival attacking, according to his playing partner.

“I’d be lying if I didn’t hear some things that weren’t super nice today towards me,” Harman said. “I hear them, but at the same time, I don’t try to let that influence the decision I’m about to make.”

Asked to relay what he heard, Harman added with a smile: “It’s unrepeatable.”

American compatriot Cameron Young – similarly pursuing a first major – leads the chasing pack, surging five places to second after an excellent five-under 66. He will pair with Harman when they tee off in as the final group Sunday at 2:15 p.m. BST (9:15 a.m. ET).

Few golfers enjoyed a better day at a rainy Royal Liverpool course, but none enjoyed better than Jon Rahm, one shot behind Young.

The Spaniard tallied eight birdies – including seven in his last nine holes – to soar 36 places up the leaderboard to solo third.

His eight-under 63 was the lowest round of the tournament so far and marked his career-low score at a major. After victory at The Masters in April, another blistering score Sunday could see the world No. 3 become the first player to win two major championships in the same year since Brooks Koepka in 2018.

Four golfers join Fleetwood in fourth; Norway’s Viktor Hovland, France’s Antoine Rozner, Australia’s Jason Day, and Austria’s Sepp Straka.

Alex Fitzpatrick, younger brother of 2022 US Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick, saw a dream major debut reach new heights with a superb 65, the second-best score of the round after Rahm.

The 24-year-old ended the day level in ninth with India’s Shubhankar Sharma and two shots ahead of his sibling.

Rory McIlroy will need a miraculous final day turnaround if he is to end his nine-year wait for a fifth major. The Northern Irishman, who won the last time the major was hosted at Royal Liverpool in 2014, shot two-under 69 to stay nine shots behind leader Harman.

New details have emerged about a US soldier who crossed into North Korea on Tuesday – but his exact whereabouts remain a mystery since the secretive country hasn’t said a word about the incident.

Details about how exactly King ended up on the North Korean side of the border remain unclear.

King had been on a tour of a border area as a civilian when he crossed the demarcation line.

His motive is also a mystery. King’s mother, Claudine Gates, told ABC she was “shocked” after being told by the US Army that her son had crossed into North Korea.

“I can’t see Travis doing anything like that,” Gates told ABC, adding that she heard from her son several days ago and he told her that he’d be returning to his base in Fort Bliss.

The US has been actively reaching out to North Korea to resolve the situation, but it has not yet heard back, a defense official said Wednesday. It is typical of North Korea not to respond to US outreach, the defense official added.

Adm. John Aquilino, who is in charge of US Indo-Pacific Command, said Tuesday that the US has had “no contact at this point” with North Korea in regards to King. Speaking at the Aspen Security Forum on Tuesday, Aquilino said King “made a run across the demilitarized zone in the Joint Security Area, was picked up by the North Koreans, and we’ve had no contact at this point.”

Aquilino added that he has “gotten no reports” that King was a North Korea sympathizer.

The US Army has identified King as a cavalry scout who joined the military in January 2021. US officials did not say how long King had been in South Korea, but at some point he faced disciplinary action for assault and spent about 50 days in a detention facility.

King was held in a designated detention facility under the Status of Forces Agreement with South Korea, the officials said, which is an agreement that defines how US service members, their family members, and other Defense Department personnel are treated and processed in a foreign country, including its justice system

History of assault

King appears to have a history of violent behavior. South Korean court documents show that he was accused of assault twice last year, and received a fine for one of the incidents.

Last October, he was accused of pushing and repeatedly punching a victim in the face in a club in Mapo-gu, Seoul, after being refused a drink he asked for, according to the Seoul Western District Court documents.

Following the alleged assault, King was taken into police custody and placed in the back seat of a patrol car, when he allegedly used offensive language against Korea, the Korean army and the Korean police while in anger, the court document said.

He then allegedly kicked the door of the patrol car several times, causing 583,959 Korean won (around $461) of damage, according to the court document. King was fined 5 million Korean won (around $4,000) as a result, the document stated.

“If the defendant does not pay the above fine, the defendant shall be detained in a labor facility for a period of time converted to 100,000 Korean won per day,” the document said. It is unclear at this point if King paid the fine or served time at a labor facility.

It is unclear whether the time he spent in detention was related to these incidents.

Thailand’s parliament blocked the prime ministerial nomination of the winner of May’s nationwide elections, Pita Limjaroenrat, on Wednesday, a blow to his progressive opposition party after nearly a decade of military-backed rule.

Out of the 715 members of parliament present, 395 voted to block the second nomination, 312 voted for it, eight abstained and one – Pita himself – didn’t cast the vote, according to the house speaker.

He was temporary suspended as a lawmaker by the country’s constitutional court after a complaint filed by the Election Commission against the Move Forward Party leader accusing him of violating election laws for allegedly holding shares in a media company.

Pita has denied he broke election rules and previously accused the Election Commission of rushing the case to court.

Move Forward Party had pledged deep structural reforms to how the Southeast Asian country of more than 70 million people is run: changes to the military, the economy, the decentralization of power and even reforms to the previously untouchable monarchy.

The May election, which saw a record turnout, delivered a powerful rebuke to the military-backed establishment that has ruled Thailand since 2014, when then-army chief Prayut Chan-o-cha seized power in a coup.

The court and parliament’s decision will likely add fuel to the fire of Move Forward’s young support base, with the potential for mass street protests.

The party’s platform for change proved enormously popular with the party winning by far the largest share of seats.

A group of opposition parties then formed a coalition aimed at forming a majority government and put forward Pita as a prime minister candidate. Pita, a 42-year-old Harvard alumni, called the coalition “the voice of hope and the voice of change” and said all parties had agreed to support him as the next prime minister of Thailand.

Establishment’s headstart

Last week Pita failed to failed to secure enough parliamentary votes to become prime minister in a political system that was created by the previous junta and heavily favors the royalist, conservative establishment that has long held the levers of power in Thailand.

In Thailand, a party or coalition needs to win a majority of 375 seats in both lower and upper houses of parliament – currently 749 seats – to elect a prime minister and form a government.

But the conservative establishment has a head start. The unelected 250-member Senate was appointed by the military under a post-coup constitution and has previously voted for a pro-military candidates.

Pita received just 324 votes out of the 376 needed for a majority and the kingdom is still without a prime minister as the political jostling continues.

He addressed parliament on Wednesday to bid “farewell,” while the investigation is underway.

“Due to the Constitutional Court has ordered me to temporarily suspend my duty, I would like to use this opportunity to bid my farewell to Mr. Speaker, until we meet again,” Pita said in parliament.

“I would ask my fellow members to continue using the parliamentary system to take care of the people. I think Thailand has already changed and won’t turn back since May 14. The people have already come halfway, for another half even though I can’t perform my duty, I would ask my fellow members to continue taking care of the people.”

The court ruling now threatens his status as a lawmaker.

Thailand’s powerful conservative establishment – a nexus of the military, monarchy and influential elites – has a history of blocking fundamental changes to the status quo.

Over the last two decades Thailand’s Constitutional Court has repeatedly ruled in favor of the establishment, dissolving several parties that had challenged the political elite.

The military also has a long track record of toppling democratically elected governments and seizing power during moments of instability.

Thailand has witnessed a dozen successful coups since 1932, including two in the past 17 years.

A Ukrainian security official has claimed Kyiv’s responsibility for an attack on the bridge linking the annexed Crimean peninsula to the Russian mainland – a vital supply line for Russia’s war effort in Ukraine and a personal project for President Vladimir Putin.

The nearly 12-mile crossing, also known as the Kerch Bridge, is the longest in Europe and holds huge strategic and symbolic importance for Moscow. Monday’s attack on the bridge was the second since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, after a fuel tanker exploded while crossing it in October.

Ukraine’s minister for digital transformation later said that the bridge was struck by “naval drones.”

“Today the Crimean bridge was blown up by naval drones,” Mykhailo Fedorov said on Telegram on Monday “It is better to act, not to reveal photos of our own production facilities and to supply the defense forces,” Fedorov said.

Two people were killed and their daughter wounded in the attack, according to Russian-appointed officials.

Two strikes were reportedly carried out around 3 a.m. local time Monday (8 p.m. ET Sunday), damaging part of the bridge, according to Telegram channel Grey Zone, which supports the Wagner mercenary group led by Yevgeny Prigozhin.

Russian President Putin called the Ukrainian strike a “terrorist attack” and vowed to retaliate. He also claimed there was no military significance to hitting the bridge.

“There will be a response from Russia to the terrorist attack on the Crimean bridge. The Ministry of Defense is preparing relevant proposals,” Putin said during a meeting with officials. “I would like to repeat that what happened is another terrorist act of the (Kyiv) regime.”

The governor of Russia’s Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said a girl was injured and her parents were killed while traveling in the car that was damaged in the incident.

“There is damage to the roadway on spans of the Crimean Bridge,” Russia’s Transport Ministry said on Telegram. The spans on a bridge are the lengths between the support piers. Images showed a partial collapse of a section of the roadway portion of the bridge, which also carries railroad tracks.

Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin said that the supports of the bridge were not damaged by the blast, according to preliminary assessments.

He later said traffic on the bridge will only resume in nearly two months time, adding that there “are ferries available for civilian and commercial transportation” and the railway bridge was still operational.

“Two-way traffic will be open for one lane only by September 15. Then two-way traffic in both lanes will open Nov 1,” he said in a remote meeting with officials, including Putin, televised on Monday. “One way on the railway bridge sustained insignificant damage that is not impacting the operation of trains.

Videos posted on Telegram by Baza, Grey Zone and other Crimean news outlets appeared to show part of the bridge collapsed and a vehicle damaged in the incident.

Emergency responders and law enforcement have been dispatched to the scene, said Sergey Aksenov, the Russia-appointed head of Crimea.

Aksenov urged residents and those traveling to and from Crimea to choose an alternative land route.

Critical artery

The bridge is a critical artery for supplying Crimea with both its daily needs and supplies for the military, in addition to fuel and goods for civilians.

A Russian-backed official of the peninsula, Elena Elekchyan, said Crimea is well supplied with fuel, food and industrial goods.

Denis Pushilin, the Russia-backed head of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic, said on Telegram that he had spoken with his Crimean counterpart to introduce measures “to ensure the faster passage of checkpoints on the administrative border.” Pushilin said the nightly curfew was being suspended to allow “round-the-clock” travel to Crimea, and that he was working to ensure the availability of fuel at gas stations along the route.

Last year, another huge blast partially damaged the crossing, causing parts of it to collapse.

The bridge was severely damaged on October 8 when a fuel tanker exploded and destroyed a large section of the road. Responding to the attack – which took place the day after Putin turned 70 – Ukrainian officials posted a video of the bridge in flames alongside a video of Marilyn Monroe singing “Happy Birthday, Mister President.”

Russia built the 19-kilometer bridge at a cost of around $3.7 billion after Moscow illegally annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014. It was the physical expression of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s objective to take over Ukraine and bind it to Russia forever.

After the October blast, Russia quickly set about repairs to the span. It was fully reopened to traffic in February.

Earlier this month, Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar made what appeared to be the clearest admission yet that Ukrainian forces were responsible for the October attack.

A Ukraine official on Monday said damage to the bridge could hamper Russian logistics.

“Any logistical problems are additional complications for the occupiers, which create potential advantages for the Ukrainian defense forces,” Representative of the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine Andrii Yusov said to Ukraine’s public broadcaster, Suspilne.

Hours after the explosions on the bridge, Russia announced that it is allowing a deal struck to enable the export of Ukrainian grain to expire, sparking fears of global food insecurity.

Peskov also told reporters that the decision to allow the deal to lapse was not related to Ukraine’s claimed strike on the bridge.

“These are absolutely unrelated events,” he said. “Even before this terrorist attack, the position was declared by President Putin. And I repeat again, as soon as the part of the Black Sea agreements concerning Russia is fulfilled, Russia will immediately return to the implementation of the deal.”

The European Union signed a major deal with Tunisia on Sunday, promising the North African country as much as €1 billion ($1.12 bn) in investment, financial aid and loans in exchange for curbs on migrants leaving its shores for Europe.

The deal is a major boost for Tunisia’s President Kais Saied, an increasingly authoritarian leader who has spent the past few years dismantling the country’s democracy – a decade after a revolution there toppled a longtime dictator and sparked a region-wide rebellion against autocracy.

Tunisia had previously been described as the only democracy to have emerged from the 2011 Arab Spring movement.

“Since 2011, the European Union has been supporting Tunisia’s journey of democracy,” said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen after signing the agreement. “It is a long, sometimes difficult road. But these difficulties can be overcome.”

Several European lawmakers and human rights organizations have warned that any agreement that doesn’t include human rights assurances would be seen as an endorsement of Saied’s anti-democratic policies.

“In short, we are doing a deal with a dictator who is cruel and unreliable,” Dutch Member of the European Parliament Sophie in ‘t Veld said at a meeting of the body’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs on Tuesday. “This deal does not align with our values, it will not be effective, and it is not concluded in a transparent and democratic way.”

That the EU signed it anyway is a testament to how desperate some European leaders have become to curb migration, analysts say.

Saied rose to power in 2019 after the death of Tunisia’s first democratically elected president Beji Caid Essebsi.

Running as an independent, he won a landslide victory after positioning himself as a political newcomer standing up to a corrupt elite.

But democratic ideals were pushed aside in 2021, when the president embarked on a major power grab at the height of the Covid-19 crisis. He ousted the government, dissolved parliament, and began ruling by decree.

Since then, he has cracked down on freedom of the press and judicial independence, even appointing himself as attorney general. Last year, he forced through a new constitution that cemented his one-man rule and dissolved any last hopes for a democratic government. He has also been accused of being responsible for the wave of anti-Black racism in the country amid an influx of migrants.

But Tunisia’s descent into authoritarianism was not on the agenda during the high-profile European visit over the weekend and journalists were not allowed to ask questions during the event.

Instead, Saied was all smiles while posing for photos alongside von der Leyen, Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte after signing the agreement.

Rutte’s presence was particularly striking. Just days before the trip to Tunis, he announced that he would be leaving Dutch politics after his government collapsed over migration policy.

The EU has long championed democracy in the Arab world, describing itself as a “firm promoter and defender of human rights and democracy across the world.” But it has in the past decade witnessed a flood of irregular migration that has seen it prioritize reducing numbers, analysts say, sometimes at the expense of its goal to promote human rights.

Vague agreement

Around 100,000 people have crossed the Mediterranean Sea to get to Europe so far this year, most of them arriving in Italy, according to the UN Refugee Agency.

Many made the dangerous journey on small boats operated by people smugglers who have little regard for safety. Since 2015, more than 23,000 people have either died or gone missing while trying to reach Europe, according to the UN.

The issue has pitted EU member states against each other. On one side are receiving countries like Italy that have seen an influx of tens of thousands of people per year and have asked the EU for help to resettle them. On the other side are states like Hungary and Poland which refuse to cooperate and take their share of refugees. Both countries are governed by populist right-wing leaders who argue that they should have control over whom they admit to their territory

But whether the deal with Tunisia could actually lead to a meaningful result is another question.

For one, the pact remains vague. While von der Leyen promised last month the agreement would be worth as much €1 billion in financial aid and loans, the text doesn’t mention that figure.

To dispense a substantial amount of money to Tunisia, the European Commission would also need to get support from the European Parliament and the European Council, which is made up of representatives of all EU member states.

That could be tricky. The parliament has repeatedly criticized the Tunisian leader, even adopting a resolution in March to express concern about what it called “President Saied’s authoritarian drift” and his “racist discourse against sub-Saharan migrants.”

There are also questions about the Commission’s mandate. The agreement hints that the EU will make it easier for Tunisians to get visas to come to Europe legally.

“This is a prerogative of EU member states. So the Netherlands and the [European] Commission can go to Tunis and commit to this and say the EU is going to make Vague progress on this, but if France or Germany decides that they don’t feel like it, well, they just won’t do it,” Le Coz said.

‘Destruction of democracy’

Gallien said that the lack of exact commitments in the text of the agreement means the deal is mostly symbolic.

“It is designed to show progress, to signal that they’re working together on these issues, because both sides have domestic audiences that have an interest in this, but I think it is very doubtful or very unclear at this point how much will come out of it,” he said.

But signals matter, critics say. The EU is cooperating with Tunisia on migration despite serious allegations of human rights abuses against migrants on Tunisia’s part. Tunisian forces have been accused of arbitrary detentions and inhuman treatment of migrants. And Saied himself has stoked tensions by describing migration into Tunisia from other parts of Africa as “criminal enterprise hatched at the beginning of this century to change the demographic composition of Tunisia.”

This isn’t the first time the EU has struck a deal with a North Afrian regime that has been accused of human rights abuses in order to stem migration. It brokered a similar agreement with Libya in 2017 despite documented human rights violations there. It announced additional support for Libya last year.

Gallien said Europe’s position on Tunisia’s descent into autocracy is worrying.

“We should not fall into the trap of just looking at other countries in the region and going ‘well, you know, there’s a lot of authoritarianism and consequently, Tunisia’s authoritarianism is less concerning’,” he said.

Tunisia’s democracy was not perfect, Gallien said, but “it did have a genuine attempt at developing democratic institutions.”

“This is a genuine destruction of something that has been built and consequently a narrowing of the options of a country of over 10 million people,” he added. “So, I think that is that is one reason we should be very concerned.”

Russia said Monday it was suspending its participation in a crucial deal that allowed the export of Ukrainian grain, once again raising fears over global food supplies and scuppering a rare diplomatic breakthrough to emerge from Moscow’s war in Ukraine.

The agreement, brokered by Turkey and the United Nations in July 2022, was officially set to expire at 5 p.m. ET on Monday (midnight local time in Istanbul, Kyiv, and Moscow).

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday that Russia would not renew the pact right now, saying it “has been terminated.”

Russia has for some time complained that it is being prevented from adequately exporting its own foodstuffs, and Peskov cited that objection as the reason for pulling out of the deal. “As soon as the Russian part is completed, the Russian side will return to the implementation of this deal immediately,” he told reporters.

Over the weekend, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the main objective of the deal – supplying grain to countries in need – “has not been realized,” again complaining that Russia faced obstacles exporting its own food.

Peskov left the door open to reviving the deal in the future, saying that Russia will comply “as soon as the Russian part (of the deal) is completed.”

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken last week accused Russia of using the grain deal “as a weapon.” And Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told CBS on Monday that “Russia has been slowly killing the grain initiative, from one extension to another.”

“Prices for grain all across the world will go up, and people in the most vulnerable regions of Asia, Africa, will feel it,” he said.

A vital deal for global food security

The deal allowed Ukraine to export grain by sea, with ships bypassing a Russian blockade of the country’s Black Sea ports and navigating safe passage through the waterway to Turkey’s Bosphorus Strait in order to reach global markets.

Vessels were inspected before they arrived in Ukraine by Russian, Ukrainian and Turkish officials, to ensure weapons were not being smuggled into Ukraine.

It proved vital for stabilizing global food prices and bringing relief to the developing countries which rely on Ukrainian exports. The impact of the war on global food markets was immediate and extremely painful, especially because Ukraine is a major supplier of grain to the World Food Programme (WFP).

According to the European Commission, Ukraine accounts for 10% of the world wheat market, 15% of the corn market, and 13% of the barley market. It is also a key global player in the market of sunflower oil. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), an UN body, warned at the time that as many as 47 million people could be pushed into “acute food insecurity” because of the war.

Since its implementation, the Black Sea Grain Initiative has allowed for the export of nearly 33 million metric tons of foodstuffs from Ukraine. The World Food Programme has shipped more than 725,000 tons to support humanitarian operations – helping to relieve hunger in some of the hardest hit corners of the world, including Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.

The rate of exports made under the deal had started to tail off in recent months; UN figures show that May and June were the two months with the fewest metric tons exported since August 2022.

In withdrawing from the pact, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Monday that its government was removing guarantees for safe navigation in the Black Sea.

There are alternative routes for Ukrainian grain and oilseed exports by rail through eastern Europe, but they can’t readily cope with the volume that Ukraine wants to export.

The UN official said that their main concern the inevitable human suffering that will result from the deal’s termination: “There is simply too much at stake in a hungry and hurting world.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday spoke with the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres after Russia pulled out of the grain deal. “This is another attempt by Russia to weaponize hunger and destabilize the global food market,” Zelensky said in a post on his Telegram page.

He said Russia, by taking such a critical decision, “has endangered the lives of 400 million people in many countries that depend on Ukrainian food exports. The most critical situation is in such countries of Africa and Asia.”

Russia’s objections to the deal centered around claims that obstacles to their ability to export foods and fertilizers had still not been eased.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said last Thursday, during an on-camera interview, that “not a single point related to the fact that there are interests of the Russian Federation have not been fulfilled. Despite this, we voluntarily extended this deal many times. Well, listen, that’s enough in the end.”

When asked, Peskov denied that Russia’s decision to allow the deal to lapse was related to Ukraine’s claimed strike on the bridge connecting mainland Russia to occupied Crimea on Monday. “These are absolutely unrelated events,” he said.

Moscow had threatened to pull out of the deal on previous occasions. The pact was on the brink of breaking down in late October and early November 2022 when Russia suspended its participation over drone attacks on the city of Sevastopol. However, Moscow decided to reverse course following mediation in those instances.

The head of the Ukrainian Grain Association refuted claims from Putin that Ukraine has not fulfilled a vital part of the grain deal in ensuring grain is exported to poorer countries, calling it “manipulation.”

He said the international community needed to “find the leverage” to move grain from Ukraine to the global market, adding that he was “sure that Ukraine can export grain without Russia” if it is provided “international support.”

“The international community, developed countries have to find the leverage how to move grain from Ukraine to the world market,” the president said.

According to Gorbachov, this support could come from the Turkish fleet or insurance guarantees from companies such as Lloyds.

Western condemnation

Western officials were quick to condemn Russia’s decision to lapse the deal.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Monday condemned Russia’s decision “despite the efforts” by Turkey and the United Nations.

“Russia’s illegal war against #Ukraine continues to harm millions of vulnerable people around the world,” he added in a tweet.

UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly also condemned the Kremlin’s move. “Putin is using food as a weapon,” Cleverly tweeted, stressing that this decision “hurts the world’s poorest.”

Poland’s Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau in a tweet described it as “nothing less than an act of economic aggression against the states of the Global South, which are most dependent on the Ukranian grain.”

Meanwhile, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has said that Russia’s decision is “further proof on who is a friend and who is the enemy of the poorest countries.”

“Using the raw material that feeds the world as a weapon is another offense against humanity,” Meloni said in a statement.

“It is utterly immoral that Russia continues to weaponise food,” Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra said on Twitter. “It is disappointing that #Russia obstructs the extension of the Black Sea Grain Initiative. Extending the deal is important to prevent food prices from rising and to avoid market destabilisation.”

Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Union Commission, said that she “strongly” condemned Russia’s withdrawal, calling it a “cynical move to terminate the Black Sea Grain Initiative, despite UN & Türkiye’s efforts.”

And Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a pivotal player in broking the deal, said on Monday that he may have a phone call with Putin about the decision, without waiting for their planned visit in August, according to Turkish state media Anadolu and Reuters.

The deal had caused some tensions in Europe, after the European Union moved to lift all duties on grain from Ukraine via land, to facilitate exports.

To quell the unrest, the EU subsequently adopted a temporary measure that bans wheat, maize, rapeseed and sunflower seed originating in Ukraine from being exported to Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia – a move that was opposed by Zelensky.

“Everything now is a struggle,” Mike Okoli says, in the world-weary tone he slumps into the moment a customer shuffles out of his store.

“When I started this business, my hair was all black,” insists Okoli, an affable 64-year-old who left Nigeria in the 1990s to set up an Afro-Caribbean food store on the western edge of London. But prices have soared, money has disappeared, and Okoli’s head is hairless, save for a patch of gray hiding his chin.

On the surface, there is little connecting Okoli with Boris Johnson – the most dominant and divisive presence in British politics in a generation, who took the United Kingdom out of the European Union and once told his family he wanted to be “World King.”

Okoli says he still “loves” the disgraced ex-leader’s charisma. “But…” he adds, trailing off. With Johnson, now, there is always a “but.”

Johnson represented Uxbridge and South Ruislip for eight colorful years until last month, when he stormed out of Parliament in a cloud of fury and hubris when fellow lawmakers concluded he had lied about parties held under his watch during Covid-19 lockdowns.

Now, the voters he once courted may be primed to make the most definitive statement yet that Britain is ready to move on.

A mid-term by-election to replace Johnson is taking place on Thursday, alongside two other by-elections to replace MPs elsewhere in the country. And a resurgent Labour Party – less than four years removed from an electoral wipeout at the hands of Johnson – is looking for a headline-grabbing victory that would confirm it is on the path to power.

“I thought (Johnson) was a guy who would get things done,” says Manoj Supeda, 47, who runs a dry cleaners a short walk from Okoli’s store in Uxbridge. “But I’ve lost total respect for him.

“He still hasn’t said ‘I was wrong, sorry.’ He’s tried to wriggle his way out of it, deny it,” Supeda added, expressing his disgust with the “Partygate” scandal that tanked Johnson’s once-beguiling pull with parts of the public.

“The public used to respect politicians,” he says. “(But) they all seem to be lying, the Tories.”

Supeda, who voted for Johnson in 2019, is the archetypal wavering voter in the archetypal region that the opposition party is desperate to reach. And after 13 years of political instability and upheaval, there is an inescapable sense that the government’s time has come.

“It’s just time for a change,” he says. “Give Labour a go. It can’t be any worse.”

‘We need fresh blood’

Uxbridge, like Britain, is in a rut.

The town is where the capital’s westward sprawl ends. Two Tube lines serving central London finish their journeys here, as picturesque shades of green mingle with the gray and brown hues of suburban developments. But its high streets are shrinking and the local hospital is one of the worst in Britain – rated “inadequate” by the sector’s watchdog.

And nationwide, soaring inflation, public sector strikes and the aftermath of Brexit have left families poorer and services creaking to the point of collapse. Renewing a passport, taking a train, buying groceries, seeing a doctor – virtually everything is more difficult in Britain than it once was.

Optimism, the currency Johnson once so bullishly traded in, is in short supply.

Okoli still has the energy to issue customers – many of whom he knows well – with a sing-song greeting as they step through his door. But he’s spending more and selling less, and he’s not alone. “When a customer comes in last week and buys something, and this week it’s a different price, do you think he wants to come again?” Okoli asks.

Like a number of Uxbridge residents, he has some lingering affection for Johnson and still yearns for the escapist boosterism he once provided the town. Okoli and others recalled Johnson’s Brexit campaign in 2016, an effort defined by bold promises that seem a lifetime away now.

But Johnson, suddenly, is the past, and residents in Uxbridge and South Ruislip are more concerned about the future.

“I’ve got nothing against Boris whatsoever, but we need fresh blood that actually cares about the area,” says Sonia Caetano, the owner of a Portuguese cafe on a ramshackle high street in Yiewsley, in the constituency’s more deprived southern end.

“At the moment, I’m trying to go day-by-day,” she says of her business, which has been “destroyed” as energy bills soar. “I’ve got people in their 80s that come here everyday, because there’s always a conversation … if we disappear, there’s no place for them to go.”

Caetano says she thinks “every day” about returning to Portugal, from where she migrated in 2004.

She knows Labour’s candidate for the seat vacated by Johnson, Danny Beales, who was born in the nearby hospital and lived in the constituency until he was 15, when he and his mother lost their home. She calls him “the only candidate who actually shows his face around this area.”

If Caetano’s neighbors join her in voting for Beales, Labour could claim one of the highest profile wins in recent British political history.

A tense race

Change is in the air, and Labour is set to benefit. Opinion polls confidently predict the party, led by Keir Starmer, a former senior prosecutor, will win power in a general election expected next year.

And the controversial expansion of ULEZ, a world-first low-emissions zone implemented by London’s Labour mayor, from the end of August has given the Tories a lifeline among drivers.

There is little else to talk about on the campaign trail. Steve Tuckwell, the Conservative candidate, has omitted virtually any mention of his party from his posters, instead calling himself “The anti-ULEZ” choice – a reference to the plan to extend the zone in which high-emissions vehicles would be charged to drive.

‘Labour is winning by accident’

For Labour, winning power nationally may be the easy part. In a country strangled by economic crises, the party is struggling to excite voters with a vision of what change will look like.

Reed describes its pitch as “an adult-to-adult relationship, where you level with people about what’s possible and what isn’t.” Labour is insisting it will not overspend, keen to shed a reputation gained in its last stint in power. But critics have called for an infusion of cash to fix the state’s crumbling services.

“People are not stupid. People understand the challenges facing the country,” Reed says.

Some voters are more blunt. “They’re basically saying we’ll carry on business as normal,” says Mick, 61, who runs a food stall near Uxbridge station and has voted Labour his entire life. “So why are we voting?”

Mick describes Starmer, the pragmatic face of the party since 2020, as “a bit of a wet weekend.” Urfah, a mother-of-six who voted for former Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair, was unable to even name the current Labour leader. “We’re struggling to put food on the table, we’re not interested,” she said.

Just three-and-a-half years after one of the party’s worst-ever electoral defeats, the outcome of Thursday’s vote in Uxbridge will indicate how far Labour has come.